​Miss Wagga Wagga and Community Princess Diary

What a massive couple of months it has been since crowning.Finally into the new year and collecting ourselves after the magical November night, that was the 2020 Miss Wagga Wagga Quest Crowning, Hannah and I would like to update you all on what we have been up to for the past four months.

The first engagement, Hannah and I had as the 2020 Miss Wagga Wagga and Community Princess, was the Leisure Company’s Disability Dance. Hannah and I joined some fabulous friends, for a night of song and dance down at the Kyemba Smith Hall. We were so appreciative to be invited to such a great event. We danced the night away and were also given the important job of handing out gifts from the lucky door prize! We took so many photos that you can see on our Facebook page.

Our next duty, was running a Blood Drive for the Australian Red Cross Life Blood Service.Donations seem to be very limited over the Christmas period, though holiday season is when we see your precious blood being needed the most. We ended up with 15-20 donors through the doors during our Blood Drive and we are so grateful for all of you who gave your precious time to save some previous lives, so thank you.

I will allow Hannah to take over the blog now to provide you with further updates of our adventures. Do not fret though, you will be hearing from me again soon and certainly seeing me around and more involved moving forward!

Warm regards,Brittany HackettCommunity Princess 2020

​We are already a third of the way through, oh how time flies!Welcome to our first title holders blog! After the crowning ceremony on the 2nd of November Brittany and I were overwhelmed by the interviews, congratulatory wishes, photos and celebrations. After such an amazing and tiring entrant year we couldn't believe what had just happened. I don't think anyone could have prepared us for the 48 hours after being crowned. By 10pm on Crowning night I was already speaking on 2AAA with Alan Lean about the night we had just had. The next morning both Brittany and I had phone interviews with The Daily Advertiser and capped off our media run on the Monday at Southern Cross Austereo; with Poppy and Leigh on Triple M and Herbie and Dane on Hit 93.1.My first engagement as Miss Wagga Wagga 2020 was a Citizenship Ceremony that welcomed around 20 new citizens into our country. This was an event that I will never forget. The happiness and joy on every new citizen as they finished their pledge was amazing! I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face, the feeling is definitely contagious!Later in November, Brittany and I had the opportunity to attend our first event together as Miss Wagga Wagga and Community Princess 2020 at the Leisure Company’s All Ability Dance. We got to meet so many new people and share some amazing memories. It was a night of handing out lucky door prizes, taking lots of photos and dancing the night away. The sense of community was absolutely astounding that night with so many happy faces all around.Our last activity before Christmas and New Year was running the Royal Blood Drive, whilst many people give generously throughout the year, during the holiday period people can sometimes forget our hospital system continues to need donations. Blood products have a short shelf life, so it is vital that we continue to extend our support during this period. We are so proud of the donors we had, and are very grateful for their help in saving lives.After the holiday season - and taking a quick break ourselves - we settled more into our roles and began looking forward to how we would spend the year as representatives of this great community. I had the pleasure of having a meeting with Mayor Greg Conkey OAM about Wagga Wagga’s year ahead. We discussed all the upcoming major events and how Brittany and I can be involved. I had started to regularly attend Wagga Wagga’s monthly citizenship ceremonies and had the very great honour of attending the Australia Day Mayoral Reception before later presenting a speech about ‘What Being Australian Means To Me’ at the Australia Day Citizen of the Year Awards Evening. Congratulations to all the award recipients; Lynne Graham - Citizen of the Year, John Mason - Walk of Honour, Megan Graham - Young Citizen of the Year, Geoffrey Jacobson - Ted Ryder Sports, and Ben Holt - Environmental Citizen of the Year and all the award nominees on the night, you are all a credit to our incredible community.I am sure many people will remember last year's titleholders had the honour of travelling to our sister city Nördlingen in Germany. I had the very great pleasure of meeting two of their very own citizens in Wagga Wagga, Hannah and Lilly. The girls were fun and friendly and recounted their time in Australia so far and their plans to travel through the rest of this great country.Our most recent engagement has been at the Charles Sturt University (CSU) Market Day during Orientation Week, where we spoke with a number of new students about the Quest and hoped to encourage as many young women as possible to enter in the same journey we took last year.On that note, the Miss Wagga Wagga Quest 2021 will launch soon. We are holding an information session at 6:30pm, on March 17 at the Wagga Wagga Commercial Club, in Gurwood Street. The Committee, former Titleholders, previous entrants and I will be there with a short presentation, to answer questions and chat about all things Miss Wagga Wagga. Please feel free to come along if you or someone you know might be interested. We definitely encourage anyone with any questions or interest in becoming an entrant to join us.That’s all from me for now, we look forward to sharing many more great stories and memories of the year to come.All my LoveHannah SmithMiss Wagga Wagga 2020